Is The Way International guilty of spiritual abuse?


Photo of Charlene L. Edge. 2016.

Greetings, readers. In this post, I'm offering a description of spiritual abuse and the link to an article describing a study done in Germany about such abuse in the Catholic Church. I think the article is informative for anyone who experienced such abuse from any leaders and/or followers in other religious groups such as The Way International. 

In my experience, and that of other Way followers I knew during the1970s and 1980s, spiritual abuse was perpetrated by the founder, Victor Paul Wierwille. Back then, I didn't view this sort of behavior as abusive. I made excuses for it. I interpreted it as being directed by God. But the fact is, I was blind. And ignorant. And taken advantage of.

After Wierwille died in 1985, his trained leaders continued the practice. The Way is still in business today, recruiting followers across the US and in other countries. I urge anyone coming in contact with The Way's followers to be mindful of what actually is happening during recruitment and how the group retains members. 

It may become uncomfortable to question The Way's beliefs and practices so try to do that right at the beginning of recruitment. It usually gets harder to say no later...

Definition of Spiritual Abuse

"According to the study’s authors, spiritual abuse is the inadmissible and incessant power-driven intervention in spiritual life, in the spirituality of another person. At its innermost core, the abuse consists of gaining power over the other’s conscience and innermost (spiritual) self through the use and within the horizon of a spiritual doctrine. Using the vocabulary of “opening”, the abuser demands and enforces the self-abandonment, self-surrender, and submission of the other.

In the cases examined, the exercise of power took place through an interplay of various strategies and different practices such as indoctrination, control, selection and overburdening. They were often enforced through shaming, pressure, “withdrawal of love” or arbitrariness. In both communities, normalisation practices were also massively applied to enforce the respective leadership’s ideas. This happened particularly intensively through the women."

Spiritual abuse in spiritual communities was driven by pressure and arbitrariness

Thanks for reading!

Charlene L. Edge

Note: I do not use AI for content in my posts.

CHARLENE L. EDGE is the author of the award-winning memoir, Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International (New Wings Press, LLC. 2017). She spent 17 years (1970-1987) in The Way as a leader and Biblical researcher. After escaping the cult’s headquarters in Ohio, she earned a B.A. in English from Rollins College in 1994, graduating summa cum laude, and worked for more than a decade as a writer in the software industry.

A member of the Florida Writers Association, the Authors Guild, and the International Cultic Studies Association, Edge is also a prize-winning poet. She lives in Florida with her husband, Hoyt L. Edge, Rollins College Professor Emeritus of Philosophy.                           

Her latest book is From the Porch to the Page: A Guidebook for the Writing Life (New Wings Press, LLC. 2022). Both books are sold online in paperback and eBook at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other booksellers. Visit: https://go.authorsguild.org/members/1424








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